Summer of dragons
by Malluchan
Summary: Flowers can fade and go down, and trees fall season by season. From life comes death, and death ends each life. But legend tells of those terrifying creatures, arguably not a part of nature: dragons. This one's managed to come back time and time again. Haunting nightmares and perforating reality, there have been sightings...some say strange happenings have been going on...
1. The dragon's flower

Flowers can fade and go down, and trees fall season by season. The forces of nature battle against each other and a cycle carries through and through; from life comes death, and death ends each life.

But legend tells of those great and terrifying creatures, arguably not a part of nature: dragons. They rule the crags of mountains and fly through the highest portion of the sky. Never seen by human eyes, they exist only through ancient stories and songs, imperceptible to us.

However.

There was one such lad who proclaimed himself burned by a dragon, destined to rule over them and control their race. He claimed to have seen them himself, and yielded the power found in their great hearts. He terrified others, and at times managed to help them.

He was felled by the one knight of our time, and his loss was mourned for a long time by his faithful follower; but as they say, dragons are hard to kill, and who knows...this one's managed to come back time and time again. Haunting nightmares and perforating reality, there have been sightings...some say strange happenings have been going on.

But I suppose that's improbable, don't you?

* * *

Gingka squealed as Madoka grabbed the back of his headband - and a good part of his hair, too - and dragged him into the workshop.

"Listen, Gingka. You've been avoiding me all day."

"That's because you're mad at me", he whimpered. "I don't know why! Just spare me the agony and kill me now!" Wailing, he fell onto his knees, stretching his hands up in claws to the ceiling.

"Gingka, stop it." Madoka smacked his hands away. "I need to talk to you about Kenta. He's been so depressed lately."

Gingka got off the floor and slid onto the worktable. "I noticed. What do you think we should do about it?"

"The question is: What should YOU do about it? You're Kenta's best friend. He wouldn't listen to anybody else. He needs you, Gingka, so go talk to him!"

"I think it's because Ryuga's gone. He really looked up to that guy, you know."

"Just go talk to him", Madoka said softly. So Gingka exited the room to find Kenta.

He found him outside in the garden under the setting sun, the sunflowers swaying around him quietly. He had one leg tucked underneath him and was staring out into the distance silently.

"Hey, buddy", he sighed, settling on the warm earth beside him. "What's up?"

Kenta pointed to the ground about a foot in front of him. "Look at that. I just can't figure it out."

Gingka sat up and leaned forward. "That certainly wasn't there yesterday..."

"No way it sprang up overnight."

Before them lay a sprawling bed of snapdragons.

Rolling in all directions in front of them, the flowers wove and snaked around the roots of Madoka's sunflowers, popping up in every available space and taking up each inch of barren ground except the space where Kenta sat.

"When I stepped through here they just sank into the ground under my feet, but I can't get them to do it again."

"Snapdragons, huh? That's unusual." Gingka stood up and surveyed the strange garden.

"We better go inside before Benkei finishes off all the food." Turning and glancing over his shoulder at Kenta, he added, "Cheer up, buddy. It'll be alright."

Kenta squinted at one of the flowers and plucked it off, tucking it into his shirt pocket thoughtfully, then headed inside.

The next morning the garden was barren of snapdragons, and the one in his pocket had vanished without a trace. But he thought he say a dragonfly head off through his bedroom window, opening his eyes sleepily in the watery light of the early morning.


	2. The dragon's song

The songs mentioned belong to Peter Paul and Mary, Alicia Keys, Dragonforce, Ill blu, Zandelle, and Majesty.

* * *

Gingka fiddled with the old radio in the kitchen, twisting the dials and pushing at it. Hyouma'd got it to get a signal, and it worked like a charm, but today only static would bust through the speaker, and they'd been dealing with it all morning.

"MAKE IT STOP!" yelled Kyouya threateningly.

"I'm trying, I'm trying! I could use a little help here you know - " Gingka was cut off as the radio started to play softly.

Puff the Magic Dragon?

Gingka turned the dial to change the channel. Nothing happened but a soft in-between click, and the same song played.

On every channel, the sang song came on. Kenta stood on tiptoes and gazed wide-eyed at the radio. Then he touched the dial lightly.

At his touch, the song changed instantly.

Dragon days?

"Try it again, Kenta."

This time, Where Dragons Rule blasted through the kitchen. Madoka yelled from the workshop:

"TURN THAT THING OFF!"

Kyouya shoved Kenta aside and fiddled with the power button, but the radio wouldn't turn off. Kenta punched desperately at the buttons, but all the songs were about dragons.

Dragon Pop. Dragon's Hoard. Guardians of the dragon grail. Finally the radio turned off and Kyouya, Gingka, and Kenta sprawled on the floor panting.

Finally Kenta looked over at Gingka. "This has got to mean something."

Gingka blinked at him, and then blinked again.

"I don't know, Kenta. I wouldn't get your hopes up just yet", he said doubtfully. "This could all be just a huge, confusing coincidence."

But as he and Kyouya left, Kenta stared up at the radio and was sure he saw a glimmer of something, glinting behind the grid set in the front. He stood up and pried the grid off the wooden frame.

A single marble lay in the bottom of the compartment, in the corner, framed by wood. Ribbons of gold wove through its yellow, red, and green. Kenta pocketed it absentmindedly and popped the grid back onto the front of the radio, and then headed off into the garden to think about the happenings of the past few days.

But if he'd looked closer, maybe down a little research, he'd have found that the marble was of a certain design: the dragon variety...

* * *

Dragon-pattern marbles are real! Look it up!


	3. The dragon's portrait

Kenta was certain something was going on.

The air crackled with the static of excitement. Every day a new dragon appeared in the corner of his eye. In the background you could hear Madoka and Gingka arguing about whether or not they should send him to a therapist.

Cracks or blotches on the wall formed fangs and a long snaky body, devious eyes, a flickering tongue, but when anybody else looked there, they were gone. Kenta was sure he had seen them. But nobody else could.

He drew dragons constantly: On his homework, on his notebooks in class, on his desk, even, with a sharpened nail and a permanent marker.

And he would not pick up his Sagittario.

It sat untouched on a shelf in Madoka's workshop, gathering dust, tilted to one side and leaning on its chipped chrome wheel. He'd not allowed anybody to touch it, not even himself. At night he was sure he could see it glow at the first sign of darkness, flash only briefly. But nobody believed him.


	4. The dragon found

Staring out the window in his upstairs room, Kenta could hear the remnants of a song drifting past him on a breeze.

_Anytime you need a friend_  
_I will be here_  
_You'll never be alone again_  
_So don't you fear_  
_Even if you're miles away_  
_I'm by your side_  
_So don't you ever be lonely_  
_Love will make it alright_

Craning his neck around the corner of the building and squinting past the oncoming stormclouds, he could see the old man on the corner with his guitar. A retired navy veteran, he was there day in and day out, from the time he went to bed to the time he woke up.

_When the shadows are closing in_  
_And your spirit diminishing_  
_Just remember you're not alone_  
_And love will be there_  
_To guide you home_

They said his name was Les Romero.

_Anytime you need a friend_  
_I will be here_  
_You'll never be alone again_  
_So don't you fear_  
_Even if you're miles away_  
_I'm by your side_  
_So don't you ever be lonely_  
_Love will make it alright_

Kenta trudged down the stairs and to the corner.

"Anytime ya need a friend...Oh, hey son...I will be here. Siddown son, I'm nearly done with this here song. You'll never be alone again, so don't you fear..." The acoustic twang of his guitar died prematurely in the humid air.

"Even if you're miles away..."

Even if you're miles away. Kenta liked those words. He found himself singing along with Les.

"I'm by your side. So don't you ever be lonely - love will make it alright."

_If you just believe in me_  
_I will love you endlessly_  
_Take my hand_  
_Take me into your heart_  
_I'll be there forever baby_  
_I won't let go_  
_I'll never let go_

_Anytime you need a friend_  
_I will be here_  
_You'll never be alone again_  
_So don't you fear_  
_Even if you're miles away_  
_I'm by your side_  
_So don't you ever be lonely_  
_It's alright_  
_It's alright_

Les nodded at him, flashing a gap-toothed grin.

"Ah respect a fella musician when I sees one." He cocked his head at Kenta, laying the guitar down on the pavement. "Whatser name, son? It ain't Son, Ah can tell ya that. Nobody names ther son Son. Ther ain't no sense in that."

"My name's Kenta. You're Les, aren't you?"

"Well that depends. Who da you want me ta be? Les? Jus' plain Les? Or yer friend, Son? Ah mean Kenta?"

"Friend. Be my friend, Les."

"Ther's mah boy." Les put his face up to the cloudy sky and sniffed softly. "Somethin's a-comin', boy. Ah can feel it. Yah smell that?" He stood up, turning his face to the lightning in the distance.

"Thar! And thar! I sees em. Even if nobody else do. That's-a dragon smoke I's smellin. I'd know it anywhere. Ah swear ta you that ain't a smell a man ever fergets."

Kenta leapt up. "Dragons? For real?"

"Fer real, son. Ah ain't kiddin ya one bit. I seen em with mah own eyes. They doesn't believe me, son, but I's seen em."

"I believe you. I've seen them too. Well, sort of. Dragons are real, Les? Really?"

"Fer real. Ah swears it to ya. THAR!" He grabbed Kenta's wrist and lifted his hands to the sky. "You can see em! THAR'S another one! AND ANOTHER! Ya see there, son?"

With every crack of lightning, a long snake-shaped body was silhouetted against the clouds.

"Once that thar rain starts ta fall they's a-gonna come down here and attack this here town. I seen em. Get inside, go!" He shoved at Kenta's back insistently. They hurried together into a store.

"You really think dragons are real, Les? You've really seen them?" he gasped breathlessly, his face fogging up the window of the store.

"Ah seen em'. An' this here town's doomed if someone don't do somethin'. You gotta do somethin', boy", he hissed urgently, holding on to his shoulders. "You gotta do somethin'. They ain't gonna leave this town till they finds what they's lookin' fer, and they gonna tear us limb fra limb ta do it if they has to."

"If there really are dragons out there...what do you think they're looking for?"

"It ain't no matter a what's much as WHO. They's probably lookin fer one a' there young, what wandered off inta tha wild. Er one a' their own what got captured by scientists er somethin'. Or even one a' them's chosen ones what was supposed ta come home ta them."

"Chosen ones?" Kenta blinked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Some a' them's chosen the ones what had a lotta spirit, ta be human repreesentatevs for ther race. Some of 'em go rogue er go missin'. Er they break from the power an' reveal the lair." His gaze went foggy. "Ah knows. Ah was one a' them. But Ah got benished from the harem cuz ah betrayed tha secret location."

"Is all of this really true?" Kenta whispered. "Because if you're for real...I think I know what they're looking for."

It was then that a huge crash was heard from the square. And a moment later the huge head of a reptilian legend swung around the corner...


	5. The dragon freed

Les yelled and backed into the counter of the general store. The poor manager passed out behind him. But Kenta stayed with his face pressed up against the glass, frozen in horror and fascination.

"Ya gotta calm 'im down if ya know what 'es lookin' fer, son!" yelled Les. "It's all up to ya now! This lil' city needs ya! We cain't hold our own 'gainst this kinda power. Believe me, I tried, and I seen 'em go down...GET BACK FROM THE WINDOW, SONNY!"

Kenta raced backwards as the dragon crashed his head through the window, unhindered by the shattering glass. His great scaly shadow loomed terrifyingly over Les, Kenta, and the unconscious manager.

"CALM 'IM DOWN, SON, NOBODY ELSE KIN HELP US NOW!" Les yelled. Kenta rushed forward and the dragon swung its head over, glaring down at Kenta through enraged eyes. Kenta reached a hand out.

The great beast snorted at him, steam beating against the palm of his hand. Kenta was afraid. But he pushed on.

A cautious step forward, and then another. But as soon as his palm made contact with the dragon's cold scales, it reared, bashing through the ceiling of the general store.

"WHOA! WHOA, OH WHOA WHOA WHOA..." Kenta scuttled backward, falling on his behind and going back on hands and knees.

The dragon extended his neck, puffing at Kenta, his face inches from the boy's. He closed his eyes and could feel warm steam flowing over his face.

He opened his eyes cautiously, surprised that he wasn't hurt. The dragon sniffed at him suspiciously, tentatively. A spark of recognition came into its eyes and it warbled softly.

Kenta reached out a trembling hand. "That's it, okay...easy boy..." he stood up slowly and the dragon backed off, hostility sparking in its eyes.

"No, no no no, it's okay. Hey! Are you looking for Ryuga?"

The dragon snorted and its eyes widened. Kenta could've sworn it nodded.

"He's not here", Kenta said softly. "Nobody knows where he is."

The dragon looked sceptical. As if it didn't trust him.

"I promise you, he's nowhere in this city. Go look somewhere else." He shoved at its nose lightly. The dragon bared its fangs at him, but he kept on pushing. "Go on, go. There's no reason to tear down this city over one single person."

The dragon backed out of the general store, knocking down several signs and lampposts with its trailing tail. It cast a long glance over its shoulder at Kenta before it spread its great wings and leapt into the lightning, vanishing into the top layer of clouds at bullet speed.

Kenta and Les stood in the rain, watching as it trailed down around them, as the crackling lightning illuminated one last glance of the beast's head and the pavement and rubble of the general store gathered wet spots around them

Les looked over at Kenta. "Let's agree that this was a earthquake, all right? Them dragons probably doesn't want nobody ta know they was here."

Kenta nodded quietly. "And let people think the store owner was hallucinating?"

"That sorta stuff happens all tha time. It'll be tha talk o' tha papers fer awhile, but it'll die down eventually. And if anyone else saw it...it's probabilty 'gainst myth, eh?"


	6. The dragon's dream

The song 'the house at pooh corner' belongs to Kenny Loggins or whoever...

* * *

Kenta woke in the clammy little upstairs room, eyes wide and aching all over. One thing was different this morning: There was no music coming from the block corner.

He heard a noise beneath his window and opened it, hanging over the ledge inquisitively. Les was walking by with his guitar over his shoulder like a baseball bat, staring up at the window quietly.

He broke into a grin at the sight of Kenta.

"Hey, son. Was wondrin' when you'da been up. Came by ta check on ya."

"How bad was the damage to the general store?"

"Gen'ral store? Ah don't remember no damage ta the gen'ral store. Don't know what you's talkin' bout, kid."

"No. Remember? There was a dragon."

Les stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Huh. I don't remember no dragons, son, but ah tell ya, them's creatures ya don't wanna mess 'round wit."

"There was a dragon, Les! In the general store!"

Les glared at him. "See here, nah. If there was a dragon this town'd been rubble bah now. Not ta mention nobody'd believe ya."

Kenta figured Les was continuing with the earthquake act. "Oh, yeah, it was an earthquake, right Les?"

"There weren't no earthquake at ta general store, but it's a better story'n yer dragon. Kids like you don't need ta be messin' round wit them mythicle critters. Ain't need ta be believin' in em, neither. Keeps ya outta a whole lotta trouble, Ah tell ya that, son."

Les didn't remember the dragon.

"Seeya later. Ter's a street corner callin mah name. And, uh..." Les paused and looked up at him. "You're a brave boy, ya know that?" He winked at Kenta and left.

Kenta went downstairs to get the paper. The earthquake would be in the news.

The earthquake was not in the news.

"Madoka, there was an earthquake yesterday, right?" Kenta asked carefully.

Madoka flipped her pancake on the griddle. "No, why do you ask?"

"But-but the wall of the general store got busted! The ceiling too! An-and the guy at the counter fainted!"

"No, Kenta, you were probably dreaming. You were yelling something last night...something like, 'WHOA OH WHOA WHOA WHOA'? Is that what you mean?"

So it had all been a dream then? Kenta couldn't quite believe it.

"Oh...okay."

"You should check on Sagittario today. At least clean it off. It's been on that shelf for the past two months."

Kenta consented, absentmindedly. He sat at the table as his pancakes got cold, thinking about what Les had said that morning.

"You're a brave boy, ya know that?"

_Christopher Robbin and i walked along  
under branches lit up by the moon  
posing our questions to owl and Eeyore  
as our days disappear all to soon  
but I've wandered much further today than i should  
and i can't seem to find my way back to the wood  
so help me if you can I've gotta get  
back the the house at pooh corner by one  
you'd be surprised there's so much to be done  
count all the bee's in the hive  
chase all the clouds from the sky  
back to the days of Christopher Robbin and pooh_

The music floated through the window in the kitchen and Kenta had an idea. If he couldn't figure out what Les had meant, maybe he should just ask him.

He ate the cold pancakes and raced down the sidewalk barefoot as the strains of another song rose into the air.

_We will fly way up high  
__Where the cool winds blow  
__Or in the sun laughing having fun_

_With all the people that we know_

_If the situation should keep us separated_  
_I know the world won't fall apart_  
_You will free the beautiful bird_  
_Caught inside your heart_

__"Oh, hey again, son...ahem...Can you see her? oh she flies so proud...ehrm...nevermind. How ya doin?" Les leaned in and gazed into Kenta's eyes. "You ain't feelin poorly, is ya? Not scorched er nothin?"

"N-no, Les. What happened last night?"

"Oh, that ain't my part ta tell, boy. Ya see this right here?" He gestured to himself. "This is a none-a yer bizness suit. Get it?" He chuckled, and added, "Besides, I ain't so sure mahself. It ain't our place ta explain the doin's o' tha universe cos' we'll prob'ly git it wrong nohow."

"Okay. But what happened was real, right?"

"Ah told you son, Ah don't know. It were a dream, and it weren't a dream. It never happened an' it's a-time ta get on wit what you was doin."

"Okay. Les, do you know any songs about dragons?"

"Aw, dragons is feisty creatures, Ah kin tell ya that much. But ah do know a song ah picked up from mah granddaughter loooong timeago. She made it up, ah tell ya. Cindy was her name and her momma added a verse or two. Lemme see if ah can remember it."

Les hemmed and hawed and hummed and then he said: "Ah, I got it nah. Sure as them clouds is movin' ah got it."

_Way up 'bove in my own lil' world lived a dragon so proud and so bold_

_He flew in tha sky just's high as the sun and his scales was a-shimm'rin like gold..._

The song had a lilting, Southern feel to it.

_One day that dragon laid a egg on a cloud and it fell right through to the earth._

_It landed in my backyard and I picked it up and I tell you it hatched,_

_oh I tell you it hatched,_

_Little dragon beneath my bed_

_Open your eyes up sleepyhead,_

_Learn to fly and be so free_

_There's a great-a-many things you could learn ta be._

Les paused to refresh his memory, strumming a few chords on the guitar. "Here we go, nah, son."

_I walked that dragon around the park_

_when the sun went down and it got all dark_

_cause I knew if anyone else should see,_

_they'd take mah baby away from me._

_He learned to be quite and eat from my hand_

_and not shoot flames at the ceiling_

_Baby don't shoot flames at no ceiling, now..._

_Little dragon hiding under the bed,_

_don't you worry your little head._

_There ain't no force on this world, you see, _

_that could ever take you away from me._

_My dragon got big, and he got pretty smart_

_he flew out at night by himself to the park._

_He'd always come back at the break of the day_

_because my little baby'd never fly too far away._

_But dragons ain't meant to be on their own,_

_no they can't stand to be so alone._

_One day I looked up and he was flyin' away_

_to find his own kind_

_His own kind in the hills where they hide..._

Les drew a shaky breath and finished the song quietly.

_Little dragon gone from under my bed_

_To go and find his pack where they've hid_

_It was fun when you got to stay here with me,_

_but with your own kind was where you're meant ta be._

_There's a hole in my heart where you used to be_

_but maybe someday you'll fly back ta me..._

Les wiped his eyes quietly.

"An' Cindy's all grown up now and workin' that gen'ral store down in the South...that song'll always remind me a' her." He looked down at Kenta. "What'd ya think? Cindy's a reg'lar musician. Ain't meant ta be in that there gen'ral store. Should be at a music college. Lemme tell ya somethin', boy."

He leaned down close to Kenta.

"Tha reason Ah play on this corner all tha time? I'm sendin' the money back ta Cindy when ah gets enough so someday she kin go ta college and learn music. 'Cause she ain't meant ta be in a lil' town. Cindy was meant for great things. And so're you. Come ta think of it, boy..."

Les drew back and cocked his head at Kenta.

"Isn't you a blader? Where's yer beyblade? Ya used to play down't the park wit the other kids but you ain't goin' there no more since ya got back here. Ah remembers it, and ah remembers it real well, son."

Kenta flicked his gaze down shyly. "Well...my friend...you see, the one the dragon that wasn't was looking for last night?"

"Yeh."

"He gave me his bey spirit. I haven't been able to touch my beyblade since, and he's gone now..." tears welled up in Kenta's eyes.

"Bey spirit? Mah boy, it's the reason he hain't come back none! You cain't come back'n blade 'nless ya has a spirit! And it ain't bein' used! If it belongs ta you, ya should be usin' it so maybe it'll grow and he can fine'ly return once 'e has enough. You better get your beyblade and head to the stadium, son, Win ya some tournaments and then give 'im a chance. Dragons usually fins their own ways ta come back. They got a partic'lar way o' beatin nature, Ah tell ya. Git." Les flapped his hands at him.

Kenta stood and ran back to Madoka's workshop, filled with a sudden hope. He clutched the marble in his pocket as he ran, the hot pavement beating against his bare feet, and swung around the corner as Les's voice filled the air.

"Dragon hidin' neath mah bed,

open yer eyes up, sleepyhead.

Spread them wings and learn ta fly

and you'll get by."


	7. The dragon's flame

Oh. Also, that song from the last chapter, 'the horses'. It belongs to Kenny Loggins too.

The song "baby dragon" belongs to me. Also the sonnet "warm summer's day".

* * *

Kenta pattered down the warm sidewalk, once again barefoot. Sagittario was clutched in his hands, the heightened spin-track an unaccustomed weight in his palm. It seemed to be pulsing softly with heat. Excitement for battle, perhaps? He blew the dust off it and rubbed the facebolt thoughtfully. Sagittario had seen a lot.

At the corner Les snagged his collar. "Hold it thar a second, boy. Lemme see that."

Kenta turned around and held out the bey to him, antsy to get started. Les took Sagittario thoughtfully, turning it in his hands.

"Aha...hmm...yes. Ah see, Ah sees it...right ther." He held out the bey to Kenta, the fusion wheel tilted towards him.

A ribbon of burnt orange undulated around the perimeter of the fusion wheel, rising up and down irregularly with no fixed pattern. It was no wider than a half a centimetre.

"That thar's dragon flames right thar. Dragon's been a-burnin' this here bey. And pretty hard too. Ya see how deep them ridges goes?" He ran his finger along the orange.

"This here's a beyblade that a lotta people'd do a lotta things ta get thar hands on. Don't you let nobody know that was dragon smoke. Another thing, boy", he said, handing back the beyblade, "One bey what's got a lotta burnt on it's gonna attract more dragons. You better be careful." He traced a finger along the elongated spin track in conclusion. "This here bey might be all what's left ta protect you until you kin find the dragon what burnt it."

"So you're saying I shouldn't battle with it?"

"AH NEVER SED THAT, SONNY!" Les slapped his palms flat onto his guitar. It echoed in protest. "You get out thar and ya use that thar dragon spirit to a good cause, understand me? You do that lost dragon justice fer friendship's sake, you hear me!? Or there ain't no point in havin' that bey no more! Ya may as well sell it fer scrap metal!"

Kenta flinched at Les's outburst. "Yessir. I'll see you again this evening."

"Git outta here. Go on, you don't have no permit." Les flapped his hands at Kenta and Kenta raced off.

Kenta flipped out his launcher, swinging his head around and looking for an opponent. It wasn't long before Osamu and Tekashi raced up to him. He hadn't seen his friends since the day after he got back, and they were eager to battle him once more and see his new-found power.

"Where's Akira?" Kenta looked around. Akira, Osamu, and Tekashi were rarely seen on their own. They were a determined trio and stuck together all the time.

"Akira is going to a private school on the other side of the city. They go through the summer as well", Tekashi explained.

Akira would never have made that decision to take him away from the summer tournaments unless something really drastic had happened in his mind. Kenta's face fell. Every time you turned your back or went away, something changed; you couldn't just undertake a great responsibility and expect to come home and find things the same as you left them.

"That aside, Kenta, let's battle!" Osamu excitedly clicked his beyblade into its launcher and aimed it towards one of the stadiums.

Kenta grinned and pointed his launcher in the same direction. "3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"

* * *

A few blocks away, Yuu Tendou walked down the street, humming to himself. His shoes dangled in his hand by the laces and his jacket was slung over his shoulder, sleeves trailing behind him carelessly. In his free hand he held an ice cream cone, and his hair was tousled and sun-bleached.

Suddenly a burst of light came from the park a little way down, and he could hear a shout he'd not expected to hear for another year or so.

"GO SAGITTARIO!"

Yuu gasped, and the ice cream was thrown, forgotten and unwanted, to the sidewalk. He dropped his shoes and looked to the sky as the ghostly silhouette of a centaur rose to meet the clouds.

He let out a laugh of disbelief and slung his shoelaces around his neck, racing in the direction of the park.

As he got there, a small beyblade landed at his feet, and he could see the disappointment, mingled with awe, on Osamu and Tekashi's faces. He smiled up at the green haired boy a little way up the hill.

"Ken-chi! You're battling again! I can't believe it!"

"Yeah, Yuu, I decided to try it for old times' sake."

"Good for you, buddy!" Yuu dropped his jacket and shoes at the bottom of the hill and raced upward, handing Osamu his beyblade on the way. "Battle me! I want to see how much Sagittario's power has increased since the battle with Nemesis."

Kenta laughed and retrieved his beyblade. "Okay, Yu. But only one battle. I think maybe Sagittario might get tired out too quickly if we start battling a lot right off."

"You make a good point. All right, here we go! Three, two, one! LET IT RIP!"

Sagittario and Libra clashed fiercely in the centre of the stadium, meeting each other head-on. Libra's fusion wheel came short of Sagittario's increased height and sputtered helplessly against the spin track.

"Aww, no fair! Your bey hit its growth spurt before mine did!"

"Don't forget your facing Flash Sagittario now, Yuu, not Flame Sagittario anymore!"

"I can work with that, I'm sure. Libra, go now!" Libra circled away from the other beyblade, cloverleafing evasively and dodging Sagittario's attacks. Launching itself from the edge of the stadium, Libra circled back around, getting airborne from its own momentum and catching on Sagittario's spin track midway. Sagittario flung it off immediately, and Libra went whirling through the sky and falling to the grass a few feet away.

Yuu's eyes were wide and glinting as he watched the bey fall and then he looked at Kenta. "What was that?"

Kenta picked up his beyblade and examined the ridge on the fusion wheel. "I think it caught on those ridges Les was talking about earlier."

"Les? The musician at the corner of your apartment block?"

"Yeah. He knows a lot of things and you'd be really surprised." Kenta smiled to himself. Very surprised.

"What was he talking about?" Yuu examined the strange colour of the new markings.

"I'm not really supposed to tell you", Kenta said doubtfully. "You'll have to ask him if you want to find out."

"Okay then, if you want to be so secretive, Ken-chi", Yuu scratched his head. "I'll go ask him myself." Osamu, Tekashi, Yuu, and Kenta raced down the hill. Yuu scooped up his jacket and shoes at the bottom, shoving his launcher into a pocket of his jacket and flinging it over his shoulder again.

Les was singing on the street corner.

_Where did the days go on their way?_

_Down in the wheat fields we'd go and run._

_Down by the water hole we'd play_

_Skin tanned and hair bleached by the summer sun._

_Where did the time go, little one, _

_Trees growing tall and sun never dimmed_

_I'm missing the days of your childhood, hon_

_Those carefree curls and freckled grin._

_You grew up in the country where the wild wind blew_

_and the clouds ne'er covered the clear blue sky._

_Far away from home I been missin' you,_

_but the memories of where I belong never dimmed._

_In my mind you still live in a warm summer's day _

_and the smile on your little face will never fade._

The last chords of Les's guitar died in the warm air and he opened his eyes to find Kenta, Yuu, Tekashi, and Osamu gathered at his feet, shoes absent and eyes wide.

"Hey there, sons. Ya startled me."

"Who taught you that song?"

"It's another one a Cindy's songs. Don't know when she came up with that one. Who are your friends, Kenta?"

Yuu interrupted before Kenta could say anything. "That's not a song! That's a sonnet! You've got it all wrong, Leslie!"

Les squinted down at Yuu. "I woulda remembered you anywhere. Ya little nerd."

Tekashi giggled.

"You don't sing sonnets, Les! You just say them! They're poems. Poems, not SONGS! 12 lines that alternate rhymes and two at the end that rhyme with each other. That's not a song. IT'S A SONNET!"

"Easy, Yuu! He can sing a sonnet if he wants to. Whatever a sonnet is." Kenta stood up and grabbed Yuu's arm.

"YOU ARE DOING SHAKESPEARE NO JUSTICE!"

"Siddown, you pepperball. Kenta, son, will ya introduce me ta your friends before this lil' know-it-all drives me batty?"

Kenta obliged. "This is Osamu, and this is Tekashi."

"Os'mu and T'kashi. 'Bliged ta meet ya, sons. Whatcha needin?"

"STOP SINGING SONNETS! IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!"

"Go bore your mother to death or somethin', littlun, you got no business here 'nless you got anything ta ask me. Siddown or git off me street corner."

Yuu sat down, grumbling about poetic structure.

"First thangs first. Kenta, didja battle like I's tellin' ya to?"

"Yes, sir."

"Lemme see that bey o' yers." Les reached his hand out for Flash Sagittario and Kenta gave it.

"Yup, this un's seen battle all right. Kenta, this here dragon burn's gettin' worse. You know any trustworthy mechanics in town, boys?"

"I live with one, sir."

"Don't you call me sir no more. I'm Les, and Les only. Not Leslie, neither", he added, looking sternly at Yuu. "If ya live with a m'kanic, why ain't this beyblade been maintenanced yet? It ain't in good shape and ya need ta get it seen to. This burn's a-gonna spread and then you's gonna find yourself with a rusted-through fusion wheel. Git it replaced or filled in. Even fillin' it may not stop it spreadin'..." Les muttered.

"What can fix it?"

"I ain't sure anythin' can fix it. Ya may just hafta replace it, cos' every time ya battle with it, it's a-gonna get hotter 'n hotter till the fusion wheel done burn up inta thin air."

Kenta stared soberly at Sagittario. Even Madoka couldn't fix this.

"Ya better get on home. It's nearly lunch time, son. You gonna need sust'nance. And you", here he looked at Yuu. "Ah got mah eye on you, lil' troublemaker."

"See you after lunch", Kenta called to Osamu and Tekashi as he ran down the street towards home.


	8. The dragon's burn

Okay, everybody, here we go again.

Also.

I just want to let you know a bit about me: I usually listen to Pandora internet radio while I read and occasionally while I write too, which I'm doing now. I recommend that you listen to this track while you read this chapter:

The Dance, from the album Forever Friends by Janie Becker.

Also I wonder as I wander, from the album Whisperings by David Nevue, if The Dance finishes before the chapter.

And finally, the single The Aviators by Helen Jane Long.

It's what I'm listening to right now as I write. I'll be recommending tracks a lot after this chapter, so if you find yourself listening to piano while you read, it's my fault.

* * *

Summer weeks pass slowly, as Kenta, Osamu, and Tekashi found out soon enough. While spring and fall could be likened to the crash of a waterfall tumbling down, summer was undoubtedly more like molasses pouring out of a mug and pooling onto a saucer below in an incredibly and unbearably slow stream.

The worst part about looking forwards to the summer was that Akira would not be a part of it.

After school he didn't come to Bey Park as he used to, even when he hadn't any homework. Akira hardly ever bladed anymore. He wanted to go into academics. It drove the other three nearly to tears at the thought that their quad was now only a trio.

3 days had passed since the day Kenta had first battled, and the three boys had almost forgotten already what shoes were.

Les saw them scuffing down the street, heads hung in melancholy and the humidity in the air already causing their hair to droop. He looked up from his guitar and said, "Hey, sons. What's a-troublin' you? Ya seem ta be a lil' under tha weather. Which is not necessary cos' the weather now ain't so high itself."

The boys gathered around Les's feet as they had before, and Kenta said sadly, "We aren't a quad any longer."

"A squad? Ah know a lotta bout squads. Whatsa troublin' with yer squad?"

"Not a squad, Les, a quad. We used to be four boys but now we're only three."

"Why? That borin' youngster gone off ta jump in the sea already?"

"No, not him, Les. We had another friend named Akira but we never see him anymore."

Les hemmed and hawed softly, singing a few lines on his guitar.

"When that sun a-shinin' down don't come no more and yer heart be sore...huh. Well. If ya got nowhere to go there's something you can know: I'll always, uh. Always. Ah, here we go. I'll always be here right here right now...I don't know, sons. Don't seem like there's nothin' you can do 'bout it else you'da done it already. Yer smart boys, ya know."

"Thanks, Les, but Akira wouldn't listen to us anyway. I was hoping you had something that would help us."

"All ah got is songs, sonny-boy, and don't rightly know if songs'll getche outta this situation right here..."

"Probably not."

"Huh."

_Well I don't know but music sure does seem ta soothe tha soul_

_When you git a hole in yer life and yer heart just ain't quite whole_

_Ya get ya down ta the music store and pound round on tha keys_

_then yer vision's gonna get as clear's clear kin be..._

"Say, son, you done anythin' bout that fusion wheel o' yours?"

"I haven't yet."

"Ya battled with it any more?" Les narrowed his eyes at Kenta.

"Umm...yes. Twice."

Les slammed his hands down on the guitar as he had done three days ago. "Now didn't ah TELL YA that the damage'd only git WORSE if ya battle wit' it!"

"Uh - yes, but - "

"YES BUT! SON, THAT AIN'T NO EXCUSE. Ah seen CHICKENS what could do better'n that!"

"I'm sorry, Les, I-I..."

"Don't. Jus' don't talk, sonny. Damage's been done either way, ya jus' SHOULDN'TA DONE IT. Lemme see it."

Kenta handed over the bey, ashamed for not following Les's orders. Street busker he may be, but still he was a figure of authority and wisdom in Kenta's life as of a few weeks ago.

"LOOK HERE. See whatcha done ta your OWN BEY!? This burn's done gone an' got deeper n' wider'n ever! DON'T NEED NO RULER TA TELL YA THAT!"

The burn now spread out towards the edges of the fusion wheel and in one place you could see the facebolt through the rust.

"Lookit. Take a good look and see what messin wit' dragons kin do ta ya."

Osamu stood. "Dragons aren't real, though, are they Les?"

"There's a-way more dragons in this her world'n you'd know, Osamu. An' one done gone'n birnt up 'is fusion wheel right here. Now Kenta, you git yerself back ta that mechanic shop AND GET A NEW FUSION WHEEL, and ah don't wanna see yer face until ya done it. GIT."

Kenta scrambled up and hurried off, while Osamu and Tekashi stayed to listen to Les play guitar.

Madoka said that it would have to wait until tomorrow, as a couple of compatible defence/attack fusion wheels would be coming in tomorrow.

"What did you do to your bey, Kenta? It looks like it's really badly rusted."

"I think it got hit by L-Drago's bitbeast a little to hard in the energy transition", Kenta said. Close enough to the truth.

Had a real dragon burnt Sagittario, or was Les being metaphoric?

And since he obviously was not allowed to show his face past the street corner until Sagittario was repaired, he busied himself with stringing his old fusion wheel on a cord around his neck for nostalgia's sake and staring at the garden floor the rest of the day, wondering if the snapdragons would return.


	9. The dragon's voice

Track for this chapter:

Lake Erie Rainfall, from the album By Heart, by Jim Brickman

By the way, all the tracks I mention can probably be found on YouTube very easily.

* * *

Kenta sighed, sprawled across the foot of his bed. It was early morning, and the mail'd not run yet; he was still forbidden from the street corner.

Truly Metal City was a free city, but Kenta chose to listen to Les. He looked up to him, and not only because Les was tall, but because he was...well, he was right.

Then a flash of movement on the windowsill caught his eye, and he turned to find a small lizard flicking its tongue out at him across the branch it was perched on. He crossed over to the windowsill and held out a palm to it.

"Hey, there, little buddy. Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you."

The lizard adapted an almost pleased expression and flickered its tongue out again, scampering onto the sill of the open window, and he realised it was no ordinary lizard.

It had a frill round the highest par of its head, and long rabbit-like ears sprouting up. It crouched low, nearly as long as his forearm from nose to tail, and its fangs were sharp, its body scaly, and a tuft of fur ended its tail. Most shockingly of all, it was red.

It was a dragon.

Kenta gasped and jerked back; the dragon trilled softly and cocked its head.

"What are YOU doing on my windowsill? I know; I'm doing that thing where it's a dream, and it's not; it's okay."

The dragon scowled and shook its head irritably. You're not dreaming, you idiot, it seemed to say.

"What do you mean, NO? What would you know? Being a dream, you'd probably tell me I wasn't dreaming if I was."

The dragon seemed disgusted, and settled onto its belly, narrowing its eyes at Kenta.

"Well, since I've got nothing to do to pass the time, I guess I'll just talk to you."

The dragon puffed something softly, a ring of smoke settling onto Kenta's carpet and leaving a dusty trail in its wake.

"Are you a baby dragon or something?"

The dragon jerked its head up sharply, flicking its tongue out irritably.

"No? So I guess you're part of a different breed than the larger dragons."

He nodded, and at the mention of the larger dragons, his frill seemed to stand on end.

"Do you know where Ryuga is?"

The dragon brushed its tail across the windowsill, sitting up and rolling its eyes to the side as if it did not want to tell him, and then nodded, hesitantly. Kenta managed to keep calm. This was, after all, only a dream.

"Where is he?"

Now the dragon narrowed its eyes at him in annoyance. How was it supposed to tell him? It could only answer yes or no questions.

"I know, I know. Could you show me if I got a map?"

No.

"Is it not on the map?"

No.

"No it's not on the map, or no you just can't tell me?"

Yes.

"Both?"

The dragon squawked in irritation and stood up as if it were about to leave. Outside, Kenta could hear the mailman pulling up. He turned his head, and when he looked back, the dragon was gone.

He was still in bed, against the pillow, blinking tiredly; perhaps he really had dreamed the whole thing.

He raced down the stairs, pulling his shirt on as he ran, and grabbed the box eagerly from beside the mailbox, delivering it to Madoka.

"Goodness, Kenta, you're antsy this morning."

"I reeeeeally reeeeeally want my bey fixed so I'll be allowed to leave the block!"

"What? You're allowed to leave the block, Kenta. I don't understand." Madoka set down the bowl she was mixing and turned to him.

"Les said I'm not allowed to show my face at the street corner until I get it fixed."

"Les? That old Navy guy? Somebody needs to get him into a nursing home." Madoka shook her head and turned back to the pancake batter. "Why don't you put the fusion wheel back on yourself? It can't be that hard. Besides, you've had lots of practice helping me around the workshop lately."

Kenta hadn't thought of this, and after a hastily swallowed toast, he grabbed the attack/defence fusion wheel and screwed it back on top of Saggittario's spin track tightly. And with that fixed, Kenta was off.

Les was teaching Tekashi how to strum a guitar properly.

"Okay, son, now sing that lil' song ah taught ya an' try ta get the beat right this time, ya hear?"

Tekashi started out shakily, downbeating on the guitar and singing quietly at first. But when Osamu and Les joined him, he started to become louder.

"Take me back, take me back, to where I belong

Home on the range in a field of green.

Only alarm clock the birds and their song,

A trip home's just what I need...

Oh take me back, take me back, to the place I call home

Where my heart was ne'er lonely but free

I was only a boy in a world of my own

Oh give that freedom back to me please."

"There ya go! Ya got it, T'kashi! I taught ya well, nah, didn't ah."

"Yessir."

"Oh. Kenta, son, ya got yer bey fixed yet? Cos' ah recall tellin' ya that ya couldn't come ta here 'nless ya got it fixed..."

"Sure enough, good as new." Kenta proudly displayed his Flash Sagittario. "Les, I think i saw a dragon this morning."

"Didja now. Siddown and tell us 'bout it."

Kenta looked uneasily at Osamu and Tekashi, wondering if Les wanted to include them in his dragon-based wisdom. But Les gestured to him impatiently, so he took a seat on the warm pavement and relayed his tale.

Les hemmed and hawed awhile, tightening and loosening the pegs on his guitar quietly. At last he said, "Well, Kenta, ah reckon ya slept wit' that old fusion wheel 'round yer neck las' night, didn't ya?"

"Yes sir."

"That'll be what 'tracted 'em. Ya say this was only a littlun, nah?"

"Yeah, he was only about as long as my arm."

"That'll be one 'a tha landlocked harem. They don't got wings ta fly wit. Norm'ly if they're gonna visit ya, they talk ta ya a bit. Whaddee tell ya?"

"Well..." With one last reluctant glance at Tekashi and Osamu, Kenta told Les, "He said he knows where my friend is. You know, the one whose bey burned mine?"

This sent Les slapping his guitar again. "I told ya it weren't no FRIEND what burned yer bey! It were a dragon, real as REAL!"

"Okay. His dragon was the one."

"AND ANOT'R THING. NOBODY DON'T OWN NO DRAGON! THEY AIN'T CREATURES WHAT KIN BE OWNED! Reckon that's a-why he dis'pered first off! Cos he weren't respectin' their power an' he was a-usin' it fer his own wants, and that's a-why they come for him."

"Well, anyway. The little dragon said he knew where he was, but he wasn't allowed to tell me, nor was it visible on a map."

"Heh...that'll prob'ly be that they's a-keepin' him in one'a their hidin' places ta teach him a less'n. Or it may be ta protect 'im from the sky harem cos' they wanna punish him real bad fer messin' wit 'em. Jus' how much'd he b'lieve he had pow'r over em?"

"He said he was the Dragon Emperor."

"DRAGON EMP'ROR!" Les lay the guitar down and stood up, shouting loudly. "THAT'S THE MOST DUMBEST THING AH EVER HEARD IF THERE EVER WAS ONE! YA DON'T CALL YERSELF THA DRAGON EMP'ROR, NEVER! COS IF YA SAY YA RULES OVER 'EM, THEY'S GONNA BRING YA DOWN! NOW WONDER E'S DEAD!"

"Dead!?"

"Ah reck'n e's dead. Prob'ly even tha land harem wouldn'ta spared 'im. If that land harem dragon comes 'round ta yer window 'gain, ya better ask 'im if yer friend's still livin' 'fore ya talk ta him anymore."

"Hold on a second." Tekashi and Osamu were standing before Les and Kenta now. "Dragons don't really exist. I thought you were being metaphorical that first day, but now you're just crazy!"

Kenta stood too. "I've seen them, I swear", he said in a low voice. "We all saw them when Ryuga became possessed. Those creatures are very much real, and you know it."

"I refuse to believe it." Tekashi and Osamu sat back down as Tekashi proclaimed this. "You can go on all day about this, and I'll sit here and listen. But I won't believe you, not one bit."

"Suitcherself, sons. But ya better pay 'ttention. Cos' what wit all this activ'ty goin' on, dragons is gonna be here sooner'n later. Watcher back er yer gonna end up one of 'em."

"One of them?"

"That's how ya git punished fer treatin' em wrong. Ya get turned into one of 'em fer a time until ya learn ta appreciate ther ways. An' that's only fer tha lucky ones what git in bad wit tha land harem. Wit tha cloud harem er tha space harem er any o' tha other harems, ya git it REAL bad."

"So Ryuga could be a dragon right now?"

"Like ah said, that's only if 'e's still alive. If not, then prob'ly no."

Kenta looked up at the sky as Les sat down and started singing again. He wondered, if Ryuga was still alive, would he come back?

And did Ryuga miss him?


	10. The dragon's gift

Track for this chapter:

Heart of a Child, by Jon Schmidt, on the album August End

The song second star to the right belongs to Disney/Jesse McCartney. I made up that last verse by the way :3

* * *

Kenta looked up every morning from his bed to the mismatched chair and desk at the wall to the window. Some mornings the little dragon was there, and some he was not. He looked out at Kenta with deep green eyes from the shrubbery and disappeared once Kenta mad a move towards him.

One day he woke up and the little dragon had crept into his room, draped over the foot of his bed, flicking its tongue across his bare toes; Kenta yelped and jumped back.

The dragon leered angrily at him and Kenta stumbled over to the desk, falling into the little chair beside it. More dragons were scratched across its surface, ones he'd done with a nail or ballpoint pen; the knobbly back of the chair pressed against his spine. He and Hyouma and Gingka had spent all day cutting up wood and gluing it and arguing in the garage while the radio played. They'd finally got it done and it could barely stand, but Kenta liked it anyhow.

"I need to ask you a question."

The dragon skittered across his carpet and jumped onto the roll-top of the desk invitingly.

"Is Ryuga still alive?"

It nodded amusedly. The very thought that one of the land harem would kill a human.

As he raced barefoot down the sidewalk that morning as he had done so many times before, Kenta could see Tekashi playing on Les's guitar.

"Hi, Kenta! Les taught me a song", Tekashi said excitedly.

Osamu started singing loudly as Tekashi picked clumsy and slow among the strings of the guitar, far too big for him yet.

_The second star to the right shines with a light for you_

_to tell you that the dreams you've planned really can come true_

_The second star to the right shines with a light that's rare_

_And if it's never land you need, it's light will lead you there._

_Twinkle twinkle, little star_

_So I'll know where you are_

_Shining in the heavens above_

_Lead me to the land I dream of_

_The second star to the right shines with a light that's true_

_I finally realised one night_

_My second star was you._

Osamu gave him a big finish, howling to the sky and then falling backwards dramatically. Kenta laughed at his friends and Les pointed across the street.

"Ya talk to him this mornin'?"

"I don't see anything there", Tekashi announced loudly. But Kenta had seen the dragon's tail disappearing into the gutter pipe.

"Ya don't see 'im cos' ya don't wanna", Les said to Tekashi firmly.

"Yeah, I talked to him. How did you know?"

"'E left ya somethin', boy. Ya look in the mirror or not?" Les plucked something from Kenta's hair.

Gleaming and pearlescent in the palm of his hand lay a red dragon scale. Kenta took it reverently.

"It's a leaf, Kenta", Osamu said from behind him.

"It's a dragon scale. Don't you see?" Kenta swung round, displaying the scale to Osamu.

"I don't know, Kenta...all I see is a leaf", Osamu said doubtfully. "You should get your eyes checked maybe."

"Ya don't see it cos' ya don't wanna", Les said again.

"He told me Ryuga is still alive."

Les slapped his thigh and leaned back. "Now ain't that somethin'."

"I guess it is."

"Dragons aren't real and they don't talk", Tekashi told Kenta. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"I swear I saw it."

"If you say so, Kenta." Tekashi and Osamu shared a glance quietly and Kenta scowled.

"Maybe he'll come back someday", Kenta sighed, sitting down against the legs of Les's stool.

"Ah sure hope so. Ya been battlin' wit that repaired bey yet, son? It'll do you and him both a lotta good."

"Well, a little. But not so much now."

"Gitcherself ta the park. You two as well. Help 'im out a bit. Find that 'noying kid if ya have to. But in any case, gitcher bey spirit riled up right good an' it might help yer friend's case a whole lot more'n you'da thought."

So Kenta went off the the park again.

Late the next morning, he found a dead rat on his windowsill and saw a scaly tail slithering away. A white one.

So another dragon had been here last night and left him a present.

Madoka yelled from downstairs that she smelled something dead, and Kenta hurried to get rid of the rat before she found it.


	11. The dragon's visit

Track for this chapter:

Treasure falls, by David Nevue, from the album Overcome

* * *

Every morning now, the little red dragon with the black scale on his forehead met Kenta's eyes when he woke up, hissed at him, and scampered out the window. Often he found shed scales littered across the bedspread and carpet, and got rid of them before Madoka found them. One time he'd missed one and it'd gotten caught in the vacuum.

Kyouya spent two hours trying to get it out. When he finally loosed it, it was unbroken. He shook his head.

"Kenta, you have got to stop eating fish in your room. The scales are not good for the carpet."

Kenta left him to his bizarre assumptions and didn't say anything else.

Sometimes he would see two dragons if he woke up earlier in the mornings; one the red one that was always there, and the other a pearly white creature with gold scales scattered through its colouring. It was this one, he was sure, that had left him the rat that one morning.

One day he woke up to find the red one sitting on top of him with the burnt fusion wheel in its teeth, tugging and trying to take it. Kenta yelled and swatted it away. He did not see the dragon again after that.

He first caught a real glimpse of the white dragon one morning when he woke with the sunrise, peeking through the bush outside. He stood and pattered to the window, and the dragon stuck its head out through the leaves.

It trilled softly, flicking its tail out at Kenta. Then it dropped a marble onto the windowsill - the marble that Kenta had found in the radio. He'd lost it some days ago, but this dragon had returned it.

He was certain it was a female, for it seemed gentler and smaller than the other one. He dubbed her Pearl, and soon she was coming to his window every day.

She often sat at the windowsill and listened to him talk, cocking her head and trilling as if she were trying to copy his sounds. She did not seem as bright as the boy dragon, for she never answered his questions and seemed not to understand what he was saying, but she brought him things. Little beads and scraps of paper that she found around the town, and marbles and sticks and all manner of little things. Kenta kept them in a drawer in his desk.

He showed them to her once, and she seemed to forget that she'd given them to him, taking away one of the red marbles for herself. He let her have it.

But one day, Pearl decided to spend the day with him. She pattered around his ankles and showed no intention of leaving as he walked down the stairs.

He tried to shush her and send her back through the window, but she hissed at him and tried to nip him on the hand. So he sneaked her downstairs wrapped in a jacket.

Outside, Les was sitting at the corner as usual with Tekashi beside him. Kenta hurried up to him, clutching the squirming jacket in his arms.

"Whatcha got in yer jacket, son?" chuckled Les, glancing up at him.

"This dragon won't stop following me around", hissed Kenta urgently.

"Oh 'e won't, eh? Whaddya intend ta do wit' im?"

"I don't know. If somebody sees her, I'm going to be in big trouble. Plus they'll know that dragons are real."

Tekashi hopped down from the stool he was sitting on. "Oh, there you go, off about dragons again, Kenta. You need to get in the real world, okay? It was understandable before because we know you're sad, but this isn't going anywhere but downhill."

"Tekashi - "

"See you later, Kenta." Tekashi waved a hand briefly at Kenta before hopping off down the sidewalk.

Pearl screeched and clawed at the jacket. "We better git her inside before somebody sees 'er", said Les.

So they walked around behind the shops to an alleyway, and Kenta unwrapped Pearl. She'd shredded part of the outer layer of his jacket with her claws, but now she walked in a circle and stood on her hind legs, sniffing at Les's knee inquisitively.

"Hey thar, lil' girl. She seems sweet, don'tcha think, Kenta?"

"Yeah. She started visiting my window a couple of weeks ago and bringing me little twigs and marbles and stuff. But she doesn't seem to understand what I'm saying."

"Didja give 'er a nickname?"

"I call her Pearl."

"Pearl. Good name fer this'un. But we cain't have 'er followin you 'round here er there's a-gonna be a whole lotta trouble. The land harem might feed us to the mountain harem er somethin'. 'S happened before."

"I know, but she won't stop following me!"

"Well, ah guess you'll ether hafta keep 'er locked up 's well's ya can in yer bedroom till she gits bored, or lay low till she quits a-followin' ya. Ah don't see how you kin scare 'er off, cos' if she smelt me wi'out gittin' scared, she's a tough one. Ah been a-burnt bah so many dragons that ah scares most of tha land harem away."

"Huh. I guess I'll just have to sneak her with me until she goes away."

"Ah reckon so. Whoops, nevermind! Thar she goes!" Pearl skittered up the wall of a building in pursuit of a pigeon and was gone. Kenta and Les walked back to the corner, and it was then that Kenta remembered how Tekashi had left that morning at the mention of dragons. He hoped he didn't end up friendless.

Pearl reappeared that night, curling up around his feet as he lay in bed. She seemed to like him very much, and her scales were not at all rough against his bare toes. From then on she spent every night with him, but never followed after him in the daylight again. Perhaps she had understood wheat he was saying that one time.


	12. The dragon's magic

Track for this chapter:

First Run, by Jon Schmidt of The Piano Guys, from the album Winter Serenade

* * *

Kenta woke each morning to find Pearl by his feet, her tongue flickering in and out like a candle flame as she slept. She'd wake as soon as he did and scurry out the window, and then he'd run down to the corner.

Pearl loved to chase things, and often she'd show up in the backyard waiting with a little stick in her mouth to play a dragon's version of fetch. Kenta would take the stick and throw it as far as he could, and she'd leap after it, the tiny wings at her back fluttering uselessly. Les said they were there for pure decoration, and that the land harem never had big enough wings to lift themselves up in the air with.

One day, though, the strangest thing happened.

Pearl came skittering across the garden with the stick in her mouth and Kenta could make out a faint purple trail behind her. As she came close, he realised they were snapdragons. Just like the first day last spring in the garden with Gingka, when the snapdragons had choked out every available space in the garden, so they trailed behind Pearl now, one flower in each of her footsteps for a few yards behind her. The furthest behind her heels disappeared as she moved further.

For the rest of the hour, as Pearl played and jumped in the garden, the snapdragons followed her. She seemed confused by their presence at first, but soon her small mind forgot all but the stick hurtling through the air.

When she got tired out and left, Kenta took the sidewalk in double steps to the corner where Les was and asked him about the strange happening with the flowers earlier today.

"Heh. Ah reck'n she's reachin' maturity, son. Gainin' more power'n dragon magic. An' Kenta", he warned, "Don' count on havin' er around fer much long'r. When female dragons gits stocked up on pow'r like that they tend ta stick ta the harem an' become healers or caretakers of the hatchlings until they finds a mate."

And one day Pearl arrived with rain at her tail.

Les stood up, shocked, from the corner where he and Kenta had been playing guitar. Pearl had come suddenly hurtling up to them, scared out of her wits, with storm clouds tailing her a few yards behind. Miniature storm clouds.

They roared above her even as she took a running leap into Kenta's arms, hiding her head in the crook of his elbow. But it seemed that the more riled up Pearl got, the greater the clouds grew, until they consumed the entire street and Les was lost to Kenta in the cloudy grey fog.

Then the lightning began, splitting the clouds in places until they seamed back together, and Les howled over the wind of the miniature storm:

"YA GOTTA CALM 'ER DOWN, SON, OR THE STORM AIN'T NEVER GONNA STOP!"

Kenta stroked the little dragon's spine frantically, and she squawked at him. Rather than calm down, she ran away, the storm on her heels.

Les stood breathless beside Kenta and said, "Dragons got ta power 'o water. 'Member that time ta dragons came in ta shop but they wasn't thar, and the rains came wit' em? T'at was their own pow'r causin' it. Pearl's jus' gettin' hers an she don't know how ta control it yet."

Eventually the far-off rumbling ceased, and Kenta sighed with relief to know that the little dragon had not gotten hurt.

And then he just shook his head, unable to understand how she had come to be here.

* * *

The real phenomenon came when Pearl lost a tooth.

She was chasing after a ball one day when suddenly she squawked and a white pearl came flying from her mouth.

Kenta picked it up and looked at it; it was a little pointed fang. As he examined it, Pearl sat on her hind legs and pressed a paw to her sore mouth.

Then, suddenly, she leapt up, taking the tooth from him. She scrabbled in the dirt and lay it down, kicking soil over it. Kenta chuckled, guessing she was playing a game, and allowed her to leave the tooth in its resting place.

But only a moment later, he heard a rumbling noise. Seconds afterwards, the earth split open beneath him and he was sliding down a slippery slope. He cried out and scrabbled at the sliding earth. Pearl squealed in alarm high above him;

And all of a sudden, only a few feet away, a great tree rose out of the earth.

It towered through the clouds, lopping the roof completely off of Madoka's shop. A second later she came running out. But Kenta was thinking of none of this.

The tree's great roots were whipping out towards him, threatening to gather him in. Pearl deserted him in his moment of distress and he screamed with fear; the largest root of all was coming towards him and Madoka was screaming: "WHAT'S GOING ON OUT HERE!?"

As the root came up close, he could see jewels lining its underside like sparkling tentacles, making a line all the way up to the trunk where they burst into not leaves, but feathers of all colours.

And just as he thought it would be the last sight he ever saw, a great paw lifted him suddenly out of the earth and he was heaving breath on sturdy ground.

A huge dragon towered over him, one of the sky harem, he was suddenly sure; it snorted at him, as if to say, 'you're a very lucky boy.'

And then it put a paw over him, engulfing him completely, and the darkness took over.


End file.
